New @andrewrestuccia: Trump’s “shithole” comments are still reverberating, with several administration officials privately worrying that their future job prospects could be damaged by association, according to a person familiar with their thinking. https://t.co/Gv9Ix32IwM
— Carrie Budoff Brown (@cbudoffbrown) January 19, 2018
If they’re just figuring this out now, then to be honest, I don’t think they’d be good hires in any case.
— Anne Owen (@anneowenphd) January 19, 2018
They knew he was a scorpion when they took him to their bosoms. Politico sympathizes, even if the rest of us refuse to do so:
The first year of Donald Trump’s presidency is coming to a close with administration officials exhausted and uncertain after two extraordinary weeks of chaos, even by the standards of this White House.
The drama underlines a fundamental truth about Trump’s presidency: The faces may change, but it seems the storyline never does.
Nearly six months after retired Marine Gen. John Kelly took over from former Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus as chief of staff, the president is as undisciplined as ever. That’s sent morale in the West Wing plunging to new depths, according to more than half a dozen current and former White House officials and outside advisers.
The current upheaval comes as senior administration officials are weighing whether to leave their jobs or stay in the government…
After ending 2017 with the passage of a sweeping rewrite of the tax code, White House officials had hoped to return from their holiday breaks refreshed and refocused. Instead, they’ve been thrust into yet another real-life game of Whac-A-Mole, forced to deal with an explosive tell-all book; racially charged remarks by the president that upended negotiations over an immigration deal; and now the prospect of a government spending crisis.
Some West Wing staffers are dealing with their frustration by keeping their heads down and focusing on the issues over which they have control. As a result, the White House is becoming increasingly siloed, with policy staffers separated from the top brass in the West Wing…
People close to the Trump administration argue staffers are just feeling the wear and tear of jobs that routinely involve working 12- to 15-hour days.
“This has nothing to do with a particular president, it has more to do with the fact that these are all-encompassing jobs,” said American Conservative Union head Matt Schlapp, whose wife, Mercedes, works in the West Wing and who regularly speaks with the president and other top staffers.
The White House declined to comment…
Anyone check Hair Fuhrer’s tweetstream?
“And in the meantime… “…
Is it me or is this a damning paragraph? https://t.co/pylP9iv8JO pic.twitter.com/WPmXauRztY
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) January 19, 2018
Schadenfreude Read: “Shutdown threat tanks West Wing morale”Post + Comments (60)